GM products
We have no way of knowing if GM foods really are safe to eat.
Because genetic modification involves the random insertion of genes from one organism into another, this may result in completely unexpected or unintended results. This possible disruption of genes could lead to the creation of new toxins or allergens, which might not be discovered until years after the GM food has been sold.
If antibiotic resistance "marker" genes are used in the creation of GM crops, they may increase problems like drug resistance. Despite these possible dangers, there has been no study of the long-terms risks of eating GM foods for humans. How can people say for sure that they are safe?
Current testing of GM foods is based on a strange concept called "substantial equivalence". If a GM food can be shown to be "substantially" similar to the same non-GM food then it is assumed that it will pose no new health risks and be safe to eat. This might be an attractively simple and cheap concept for GM companies desperate to get their products on the market as soon as possible, but it raises a number of very serious issues for the public.
Rather than testing new GM foods in the same way as new pharmaceutical products, basing safety on substantial equivalence means that GM companies do not have to run long and expensive testing programmes on their products. It means that important immunological, biochemical or toxicological tests, or even long-term human feeding trials do not have to be done.
In addition, the substantial equivalence testing is done by the GM companies themselves, and is rarely published or peer reviewed. Using substantial equivalence provides GM companies with an excuse for not requiring detailed scientific assessments. It also means that potentially dangerous long-term health problems might never be picked up.
Almost all of the scientific investigations into possible health risks of GM have been funded by the GM industry itself and are not entirely impartial. Some of these health problems that have been revealed include:
Toxicity
When a GM crop is developed to make it resistant to herbicides or insects, new genes are inserted into the plant. This means the new plant must be tested to see if it is safe for people, but testing is only ever done on laboratory animals. These animals can often detect rapid effects but might not be able to identify long-term or subtle health effects on humans.
Allergies
Allergies to foods are becoming increasingly common. GM crops produce entirely new compounds that have never occurred naturally before, and could cause unexpected allergic reactions in people. It often takes many years for food allergies to become recognised and although we know that many people are allergic to foods like peanuts or dairy products, most GM ingredients are used in highly processed foods. This would make it almost impossible to work out exactly what GM food is causing the allergy.
Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance genes are used as "markers" in GM crops to show whether a new gene has been successfully incorporated into the plant. If the process is successful, the plant will grow in the presence of the antibiotic - otherwise the plant will die. Antibiotic marker genes themselves do not have a function in the GM plant, but if they are transferred to disease-causing organisms they may compromise the treatment of illnesses with antibiotics in the future. The antibiotic resistance genes could be removed, but this costs more money. Both the House of Lords and the British Medical Association have called for a ban on their use.
